March 14, 2008

Fiction Friday: A Night at the Zoo

This Week’s Theme: Tell about your character's feelings toward animals and why she feels that way.
A Night at the Zoo
3/14/2008 (Monday light verse, special Friday edition)

Gwendolyn Rice thought it would be nice
to go with her mom to the zoo.

She begged and she pleaded cuz she really needed
to find out what animals do.

Her parents were vegans (just like her friend Megan's)
so Gwendolyn hadn't a clue.

But old Missus Rice said, "Sorry, no dice,"
while stirring her lima bean stew.

Well, Gwen was no quitter and when the urge bit her
she snuck out at quarter til two.

She felt like a sinner and thought she'd miss dinner
but knew what she needed to do.

She rode cross the city while humming a ditty
of lions and rabbits and gnu.

She got to the gate at a quarter til eight,
and the man there was closing the zoo.

She snuck past that guard and into the yard
just as the "we're closed" whistle blew.

Now Gwendolyn Rice, in two winks and a trice,
around all the cages she flew.

She saw bears, fox, and minks, a giraffe and a lynx,
and even a hippo or two.

She saw monkeys and birds and elephant turds
and llamas and three kangaroo.

She saw snakes eating mice while gorilla picked lice,
and sad grazed a lone caribou.

She went round and round, taking in every sound,
every odor and all the sights, too,

and when she was done she'd had so much fun
she just couldn't utter adieu.

So Gwen thought she'd stay til the break of the day
even though she'd be way overdue.

And then she thought, "Gee, don't they want to be free?
These animals are people, too!"

So around them she walked, to each inmate she talked,
and at each the latch she'd undo,

To be nice she was tryin' when she let loose the lion
but it wasn't a good thing to do

Cuz the lion thought, "Nice, I so rarely get Rice
as dessert for my beef brisket stew."

One of my writing goals for 2008 is to write at least one light verse or poem every week in addition to my haiku wednesday and fiction friday posts. I will try to do this on Mondays.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A wonderful ditty..
of a zoo in the city..
Excellent..light..with good rhymes and brilliant tempo..loved it!

M as in Mint said...

OMG!! haha!!

I would have to save your rhyme until that beautiful time
I get married, my babies come too

As i know this poem would shine
their days well, pretty & fine
coz all babies are sure to like this zoo!

(but hey, no scary endings huh!! :) )

Anonymous said...

That is SO good! I nearly fell off my chair when I read the words 'monkeys and birds and elephant turds'. Fantastic stuff, especially the last verse.

PJD said...

laurence, thanks for your return rhyme. Glad you liked it!

mint: unfortunately, scary endings are some of what my boys like, so some of my poems will still come with them. Have you encountered the Gashlycrumb Tinies?

keith, thanks for stopping by. I liked your FF about the kitten, too.

WriterKat said...

Great story! You should sell some of these to Highlights. I think they would eat them up. (no pun there.)

Anonymous said...

Excellent poem,! I can just see the expressions on children's faces even before they get to the end... This is one to share. I wish I had a child around to read it to.